Leo didn't care if she trusted him or not. It was the fact that he didn't trust her. In his time away he had grown cold and desolate. He didn't realise how long it had been to actually be with another on the same side as himself.He was always fending for himself. Alone. Protecting himself. Alone. Fighting. Alone.

He twirled his swords and whacked the dummy. The head went flying but he didn't hear the thud. The girl...Ariana had caught it.

" You're never going to beat Shredder like that."

He stopped and looked at her angrily,daring her to continue.

"You are doing it all wrong."

Without warning, she ran at him with a dagger in her hand.He quickly dodged out the way. She swiped at him repeatedly and he narrowly dodged each one stepping back until his back touched the wall. He winced as he deflected the dagger with his arm,the wound felt like it was reopening. Ariana's black hair hung down an inch away from his face. He needed to act now. Dagger at his throat he kneed her and she stumbled back. He flipped over her,regaining his balance only just with a grimace. She turned and kicked at his leg. The pain of his injured knee flared up and it gave out beneath him. She flipped over ,grabbing one of his swords and pointed it at his neck.She towered over him smirking  as he clutched his leg,though the pain didn't lessen in the slightest.

"I surrender."

She nodded and placed the sword back in the sheath on his back and helped him up.

If she were the enemy she would have killed me just now.

Leo hated to be beaten. Ariana could tell from his face he was pondering over his mistakes.

"First of all,landing like that is completely wrong after flipping over someone."

She demonstrated how he had landed before.

"I assume that after the knee injury you adjusted it but you're just making it easier for the enemy to kick out behind."

After that she showed him how to and then he tried himself. Then again. Then again. Then again. Perspiration slid down his face as he tried for what seemed like the 300th time in the last few hours.

Finally he got it.

"Also keeping your right arm back and over using your left won't work and I'm guessing it's just another habit."

They practised some more until the fatigue was squeezing him and he felt like he was going to drop to the floor. She sighed and waved him away so he 
left and slumped down on the sofa.

Ariana found him fast asleep on the sofa,not even lying down. She tentatively sat close to him and began to unwrap the bandages and placed fresh,clean ones.Although he seemed hostile and cold she felt there was more to him than met the eye. She noticed the photo on the table. The turtles looked happy. She wondered what had happened since then. Leo looked strange with his mask on in the photo. He certainly hadn't been wearing one when she found him.

~~~~~Time skip~~~~~
They had become allies that could be said. They trained from dawn to dusk,little said and Ariana found that Leo had also greatly improved her fighting style too.

It was breakfast and they made a meal of a packet of chocolate hoops cereal.

"If you don't mind me saying. What happened to you?"

Ariana turned blue. She knew what he meant and he had a right to know if she was going to get his trust.

"I used to be a normal girl. My father was always working and one day there...there was an accident at his work. He changed and told us he could never come back to us. My mother wept and my sister thought she could save him.She went and never came back. My...my mother she was amazing.I loved her so much but she's gone now."

Arizona's breath hitched as she tried not to sob. She pulled out a small heart shaped stone. A tear slid down her cheek.

"I worked at a pizza place and tried to sustain myself but then one day I-I saw this lizard thing struggling around in this green water. It looked like it was drowning and I went to save it but as soon as I touched the green mu-stuff....."

She gestured at herself.

"It depends on my emotions but sometimes I can use it to camouflage as I did to sneak up on you when you were rummaging around in the lab."

She rubbed her eyes and Leo got up from his chair and placed a tentative hand on her arm. She turned a bright pink and looked at him with soft pink eyes.

"We will find your sister,if the Shredder has her."

He smiled and she hastily got up.

"I better go...get some...supplies.Yeah. I'll be back in an hour or two."

"Wait. Shouldn't I come?"

"No offense but a giant turtle limping around in New York isn't exactly normal."

He laughed,slightly embarrassed.

"Sure ok then see you later."

Once she was out, Ariana chided herself on the break in emotion. Sure,the colour changing was there but crying was different. What she hadn't told Leo was the danger of the colour changing. It could cause her to lose sight on task and enhanced her abilities at other times. Sometimes it changed her skin rock hard. It was so random and uncontrollable.

She quickly bought some food and ran  over rooftops to the 2nd floor apartment. Her apartment. It was on sale but nobody had yet bought it due to the rumours of a girl's murder by her own mother who had died by drinking poison. What else would they think when they found her mother but not her? She even saw the bed her mother had died in.It had been so peaceful.Like she had fallen asleep forever.It was stripped clean of sheets though which were heaped in the corner.The fake note she had written had hurt her but she didn't want people to think she might still be alive. She changed out of her filthy shirt and skirt. Looking in her wardrobe she saw clothes of a stranger.A girl she had been a few months ago.She wouldn't fit in those.

Ariana had been a slight of a girl and now she was much bigger and taller with the... new circumstances.

She sighed and went to the next room and delved inside her mother's cupboard. The size would just about fit. She grabbed two pairs of jeans and a bunch of shirts and stuffed them in a bag. She found a skirt which she liked and discarded the shoes to one side. Her feet had hard scales on them so she had no use for shoes. Then she found a dress tucked away in a corner.It was a beautiful floor length dark blue dress. Her mother's wedding dress. She stroked the material and buried her face in it. It even smelt faintly like her mother's strawberry perfume. She would keep this but first of all she had some alteration to make.

After finishing in her old home,she headed back to the lair.It was pretty late. She hopped over the turnstiles and into the lair. Leo was asleep on the sofa but as soon as she walked in he woke up,slightly startled.

He jumped up and swiped out a sword.He moved and in seconds had it pointing at her throat.

Okay,a lot startled. His shoulders slumped when he saw her and gave her an easy smile.

"I see you found the supplies I need."

She didn't say anything but turned an annoyed shade of orange. He still wouldn't let her come with him. All that nonsense about it being 'his responsibility' and ' his fault' was giving her a headache. This was why one of them had to stay.She shrugged and dumped all the food next to him and keeping only the bag of clothes.

"Well here is your food."

She ran off before she could see his reaction. She ran into her make-shift room which was actually his room.He had insisted that this was better and he preferred sleeping in his sensei's room so he could be more at peace. Really she could here him swiping and cutting with his katanas through half the night.

She pretended she didn't notice. Everyone dealt with pain differently.

She fell on her bed on her back. It creaked slightly under her. It was fine with her anyway. She had already taken this room before he had come.
It was the nicest one.

She shuffled around and put her head on her pillow. Immediately she felt something under and pulled it out.
It was a small sheath for a dagger.
She saw the paper with to Ariana written hastily. She gently pulled the dagger out.

There was an inscription on it yet she didn't know what it said.

"Never give up without a fight."

Leo was looking in through the door.
She turned pink but then yellow with happiness.It had been so long...she sheather the dagger.She shouldn't be trusting him yet...there was no choice.

"Yeah i just found it and thought you might need one...It is okay if you don't need it or anything.Sensei used to keep it but I think he would want it used by someone properly..."

She got up and walked into the hallway until she was eye level with him.She quickly hugged him and then looked into his eyes which were a mix of emotions.

"Thank You."